By Julius Mugaga Tukacungurwa/Umoja Standard.
Kampala, Uganda: Umoja Standard News Agency had an opportunity to physically attend a special interview of Her Excellency Etsegenet Bezabih Yimenu, Ethiopian Ambassador to Uganda by Dr. Sam Omara, Head Public Diplomacy Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Uganda (MOFA). Here we bring you key highlights of the interview;
While at her Ambassador’s Residence in Kololo, Kampala Uganda,
Her Excellency Etsegenet Bezabih Yimenu, Ethiopian Ambassador to Uganda admitted that always when one goes away from home, they miss their country’s stapple food, or some nice taste of the country. She says, here in Uganda, since the vegetables or whatever products she buy from the market is super organic and for her, ‘it feels exactly like home’.
“Like in my house, I have a cook, so we cook it in our way and it tastes exact scent as home , then I say, everything looks like a home away home and it feels really great. The other thing, I just want to say a few things about music and the people, the free people here, that’s one more thing I really liked. In music, I just want to even mention, my neighbor, who every day entertains me whose playlist is saying everything”. H.E Yimenu revealed.
(R-L), 2ndR Her Excellency Etsegenet Bezabih Yimenu, Ethiopian Ambassador to Uganda flanked by Dr. Sam Omara, Head Public Diplomacy Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Uganda (MOFA) with Embassy and Ministry staff at Ambassador’s Residence in Kololo on Wednesday/Photo by Ronald Kabuubi.
“Apart from that, I am a big fan of the ghetto kids since I knew these kids, like back in years and I was following up and this recent achievement of those kids in the biggest stage of the world which is pretty good, for me it’s not only for Uganda, they stood out for Africa on the big stage. I and some officials here at the Embassy like Sara, we were even planning to have some event in here to congratulate them and I hope someday, we shall have them.” She added.
She admitted that she is still new and has not yet met challenges and hopes not to get challenges in future too.
When asked what stands out in her experience of life, what is likely to be remembered most about her?
Yimenu revealed that, ‘apart from work, the freedom, the social and the vibe in this country, makes you feel really good, like every day for me, I feel like I am somewhere in a vacation home, like my place in here, as you see, it’s very very beautiful, and it encourages me to do more.’
‘And the people here are very friendly, at institutional level and also people you find when you go to the market or to the mall, It feels super nice and I think if I live Uganda and go to some other country, I will really miss that’
H.E Yimenu admitted that it was her wish to get posted to African countries as was her deep interest and it all happened to be to Uganda which she’s very happy about.
She was further asked to highlight on the existing relations between Uganda and Ethiopia, bilateral relations?
She stated that, the relationship between Uganda and Ethiopia is solid and this dates back to the exchange visits of Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia to Uganda in the 1960s, following those foundations, the opening of the Ugandan embassy in Ethiopia which makes the current relationship between the two countries profound.
(R-L), 7ndR Her Excellency Etsegenet Bezabih Yimenu, Ethiopian Ambassador to Uganda and Dr. Sam Omara, Head Public Diplomacy Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Uganda (MOFA) with Embassy, Ministry staff and journalists at Ambassador’s Residence in Kololo on Wednesday/Courtesy Photo.
Responding to the focus of her mission this year in Uganda?
She admitted that, the Embassy has yearly plans saying this is the perfect time to talk about it as its done according to the balance scorecard she receives from her Ministry Headquarters.
“Right now I already have received what I’m going to do in the next year, mind you, we do have a different calendar, so in Ethiopian calendar, this is like a week left to finish the current fiscal year. So this is the time to talk about the next plan.” She stated.
“First of all, in the bilateral or the political section, exchange of visits by leaders, it can be high level in the situation, that’s what we are going to focus further, strengthen relationship in addition to that, we do have 4th joint ministerial commission (JMC) which is going to happen in Addis Ababa and I’m going to work on this and it’s going to happen in the next year.” She added.
She added that she is going to follow -up on jobs of predecessor, Ambassador Alemtsehay Meseret did a great job, ‘she has already made a conducive environment for me, so whatever she left here, I’m going to promote those.’
She said that one of these can be during the third JMC. ‘There are things which they listed out but need to follow up and I have to give emphasis on those within the third JMC. I have to take those and add up my own value and we need to work for our country.
She says, also that she will put emphasis on people -to -people relation arguing that she has already made friendship with ministers like the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the State Ministers and others and is one of the areas she continues to work on.
“So we do have a special program on our desk for our citizens, Public diplomacy, It’s a must to do, some of the friends here, you know. So I’m active on Twitter, Facebook and I use this to share information and get more information.” H.E Yemenu.
Where do you see trade relations between Uganda and Ethiopia progressing in the next two or three years?.
Unlike the solid bilateral relationship. I say the trade is limited or unutilized. Having the potential, having the geographic location of the two countries, economic zone, we need to first of all promote business between us.
It can be of institutions like connecting the two same chambers, we will have a business promotion event so that we can meet potential people who can invest or who can buy and also we can have the business to business meetings. As you know, during COVID, we didn’t do much because everything was limited to the virtual so this time around, we do have an opportunity to work more on that.
And for myself and my teams, we have already discussed. We don’t want to limit our services only in Kampala. We will go out, see different districts, different regions, and as much as possible to reach out to the majority so that we can bring the trade relationship in a better stage.
Is it possible to mention some of the Ethiopian products that are exported to Uganda, and as well as the products from Uganda to Ethiopia?
Yes, from Ethiopia to Uganda, we can mention the coffee, which is Arabica which we export to Uganda, tea and other investors producing back home exporting very diverse to Uganda as well Ethiopia imports dairy product in large quantities, live chicken, sugar and other products. During the COVID time, we imported the masks and some things related to COVID protection.
What Ethiopian products currently being promoted in Uganda and what is the dimension of you?
There are a few products which we need to promote. I have witnessed that we do have the Ethiopian wine for example my predecessors was telling me everywhere we go, everybody likes our wine therefore, like South Africa, then it’s possible to promote the Ethiopian wine and looking forward to have wine testing in this area maybe sometime soon.
How many Ethiopians reside in Uganda? Can you talk a little more about Ethiopians in Uganda?
Roughly, it’s estimated about 5000 and extra, I mean those in a different living condition, or residents staying Uganda and I can add another 500 being professional who reside in Uganda but with this, I just want to say, these people are a very strong community and also recognized by the Internal Affairs Ministry of Uganda as well Uganda being a very comfortable country to live.
So, these people of mine are living freely, they are doing business, they are even making some money and contributing in whatever amount to the economy of Uganda. I addition, they are protected and are living in a very good situation and in last couple of weeks, there was this big conference on refugees.
While attending it, I got a broader sense of knowledge about how Uganda is comfortable therefore I can say that people here are doing best, they are happy with us whenever we meet them, they are here whenever we have functions in here and the last time I can mention, during the African Day celebration, they stood out, it was the top most contribution, it was super beautiful and it stood out.
Is there something you want to add that you want to achieve in the next three years as a mission?
As I said, I’m here for the four year post, so every year we get our funds but at the end of completion of my term, I myself, I really want to achieve some of my few things like the people to people friendship which I have already started on and it should not only for the benefit of Uganda but I want it to be the voice for Africa, voice for the region.
I am aiming at promoting the culture, diplomacy and more because the bilateral whether I’m working or not, it’s already there, It’s only adding up some not forgetting the tourism sector.
Is there anything that we’d like to feature in this edition that we may not have asked?
I want to talk about Ethiopian Renaissance dam which is the flagship of Ethiopia’s developmental project. By now, almost everybody is aware, not only Africa and the world, the problem we have with other countries. It’s a developmental project for the Ethiopian people who demand electricity so much to live the everyday life because we do have electricity requirements.
This is purely developmental project and I just want you to add something about the green legacy initiative of Ethiopia which also contributes to the global environment, the global climate change and the job opportunity.
Green legacy initiative of Ethiopia was initiated by the Prime Minister’s Office of Ethiopia and is now being promoted to other countries and we are promoting that. The last, but not the least, I want to see what we can do as association of diplomats because as you know, we still have challenges so as a woman, as a diplomat, as an ambassador, we need to support each other.
We need to see what problems we are facing always as a group, we need to you know the ultimate goal.